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GENERAL HINTS ^'^ i 



ON 



HOUSE PAINTING: 



CON'TAININO 



Irartital %v\t% anir ^nfonnatioit 



ON THE SUBJECT OF 



PAINTS AND PAINTING 



FOR THH 



JODBNMMAN, THE APPRIMICE AND THE INEXPERiyCED. 



BY WM. R. OOX. 



CINCINNATI : 



18V2. 



^- -^ , 2S# 



CINCINNATI OAZE'TE PRINT 



GENERx^L HINTS 



ON 



HOUSE PAINTING: 



CONTAINING 



Irattud fettles anir J[nf0rmati0n 



ON THE SUBJECT OF 



PAINTS AND PAINTING, 



JOJIRNEyJIAN, THE APPRENTICE m THE INEXPERIENCED. 



BY WM. Jl. OOX. 



^N9 ^^y 



CINCINNATI : 

1872- 



1p 



V 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

WM. R. COX & CO. 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






INTRODUCTION 



To OUR Patrons and the Public, 



ll N presenting the iollowing general hints on House Painting, 
|l Varnishing, etc., to our customers and the public, we have 
only to rennark that they are entirely practical, and are writ- 
ten with the view of supplying informotion, such as we are 
called upon to furnish daily. We make v.o attempt at technical 
description, but confine ourselves exelu; ively to such wording 
as the simplest may understand. There has been more pre- 
tentious works issued on the subject of paints and painting, 
but we have looked in them in vain for such hints as the every- 
day workman requires. The rules we lay down here are those 
that we follow ourselves, and have followed during the past 
twenty-five years. 

With the aid of instructions conveyed in this little book, we 
believe the most inexperienced will be able to go about a job of 
painting with a knowledge suflScient to turn out a fair speci- 
men of work. We do not propose to make finished artists, for 
they are even rare in the house painting profession ; but if we 
enable our readers to do better work with our hints than they 
could do without them, it is all that we hope for or claim. 

Yery respectfully, 

WM. R. COX & CO. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 



TO MIX ANY ORDINARY COLOR— SAY, WHITE. 

Take from your keg of pure white lead (no other should 
be used) as much as you think will do the work you wish to 
do. Then add as much Japan dryer as will dry it in twenty- 
four hours, which, if it is a good article, will be, say a large 
teaspoonlul to the pound of white lead, if it be warm weather; 
but if cold or damp weather, a much larger portion, say a 
tablespoonful, will be necessary. Then thoroughly mix by 
stirring it with the lead until every particle of the brown color 
of the Japan has been obliterated from the to]D of the lead, 
being careful to stir the lead up around the sides of your 
paint-pot, so as not to leave a particle of the Japan to show 
either on the top of the lead or on the sides of the j^ot. If 
the work you are doing is inside work, and is the priming or 
first coat, you will then add of pure raw linseed oil and tur- 
pentine mixed, of the proportion of three quarts of oil to one 
quart of turpentine, a small quantity to your pot of color, and 
before stirring, wash the paint stick and sides of the pot thor- 
oughly with a brush, in order to remove all the thick lead and 
Japan from the sides. The object of this is to first get all the 
lead into one compact mass, or of an even consistency, and 
second (and which is of the greatest importance to new be- 
ginners), to induce habits of cleanliness in working their pots 
and tools. 

After washing off all color from the sides of your pot, ren- 
dering it perfectly clean, you will then stir the lead with the 
thinners* added until it is incorporated. If the color be too 
thick for use, add more, and stir until you make it of the 
proper consistency. If for priming on new work, your color 

*The word tMnners is tlie technical term applied to oil and turpentine when mixed 
together, and where both are to be applied at one and the same time. 



2 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

should be thinned until it is as limpid as skim milk; but if for 
second coating, or for a covering of work that has been pre- 
viously painted, and you wish to renew it, your color should 
be of the consistency of thick cream. 

After having your color prepared and ready for application, 
first remove all dirt, sand or mortar (should there be any) 
from the surface by rubbing it with No. 1 or 1| sandpaper. 
Then apply your paint in the following manner : 

If it be a door or window frame, begin at the bottom of one 
side, painting upward, being sure to cover the entire surface 
evenly by rubbing your color out with the brush until you 
have covered every quirk, bead or angle. Then lay off your 
work by drawing the brush from the bottom upward, being 
careful in handling your tools, so as not to flirt or throw the 
color from your brush on the floor. 

Continue on your next stretch or space, standing clear of the 
frame as far as you can reach. When this latter portion of the 
frame is done, lay it off by drawing your brush from the top of 
your stretch downward until it completely covers or laps on to 
what was first done. If your work shows any brush or bristle- 
marks, you will gently touch the point of your brush (which 
should by this time be almost free of color) to the work, strik- 
ing it lightly over the face of the frame, right and left. 

The best guide to go by in laying off work, is to always 
finish or lay off the work so as to run with the grain of the 
wood. After doing your second stretch, if your work be not 
done to the top of the frame, continue in the same manner to 
the top. Then do the top to the other side, and downward to 
the bottom. When reaching the floor, cut close to it with the 
point of your brush. When finished, if any portion of the 
paint has touched the floor, carefully remove it with your putty 
knife (by the way, that and one other tool — a simple ladder- 
hook — composes the entire stock of tools required by a painter, 
and he should never be without them). If you have by acci- 
dent allowed any of the paint to splatter upon the floor, care- 
fully remove every one of the stains by rubbing them off with 
sandpaper ; or if they be small, with the ball of the foot. Fol- 
low the same rules until all the work you propose doing is 
complete. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 3 

TO PAINT OR PRIME A DOOR, 

Clean off as first directed. If there be any spots of dirt or 
dust, paint the two top panels first, being careful to thorough- 
ly fill every quirk or angle in the moulding around it, and take 
care not to let too much color get in the quirks or angles. 
Then the two bottom ones, then your meeting or up and down 
rails between panels; then your lock rail, your top and bottom 
rails, and lastly your side rails, being careful to at all times ap- 
ply your color evenly, and to lay off each rail with the course of 
the grain of the wood, to make a closely defined and evenly cut 
dividing line between the course of the cross rails and the up and 
down rails. If you should do so, carefully wipe it all out with 
a dry brush, or your sash-tool. Then lay off carefully as before 
directed. 

TO PAINT A WINDOW. 

First find if your sash are hung on cord, or are provided 
with catches. If the former, run down the top sash until 
even with the sill, then carefully remove all dirt or soot 
from the runs of the sash (commonly called pulley stiles) ; 
then clean your sash with a duster, carefully removing all 
dirt from the corners. Then shove the inside or bottom sash 
up so as to entirely cover all but the top rail of the top 
sash; then take your sash tool and carefully trace each light, 
commencing at the three top lights, if there be that many. 
Then the three lower ones; then run around the entire rail of 
the sash, taking special care not to let your brush touch the 
pulley stiles, as the paint not only prevents the sash from run- 
ning smoothly, but is a sure indication of a slovenly or care- 
less workman. After doing this, shove the top sash half way 
up the window, and pull the top one down until the bottom of 
it has cleared the top rail of the tojD sash. Then paint as you 
did the first part. Then examine the glass carefully, and wipe 
the surface of it all over, to be sure that you do not leave any 
spots of paint upon it. This being done, you will shove it up 
till within a half inch of the top of the window, that it may dry. 
Should you shove it clear up into the pulley stiles, and it re- 
mains long enough to become dry, it is likely to become stuck 
or glued fast by the paint on the sash. Do the bottom sash in 
precisely the same manner, with the exception that you will 



4 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

paint tlie top edge of your sash fiist. When finishing, do your 
frame around in the same manner as before. When the doors 
and frames are finished, you will (if there be one) do the cap 
of the base the same color ; after that, paint the lower part of 
your base, and your room will be finished with the exception of 
the mantle. If there is one to be painted, proceed as follows: 
The color will make no' difference whatever as to the way 
work should be done, therefore we will say nothing about 
colors at present. 

TO PAINT A MANTLE, 

First thoroughly clean off the mantle, if it be required, 
dusting out the corners of the hearth, and remove all ashes 
and other refuse matter. Erush all back from it so as 
to entirely clean the hearthstone, so as not to stir it up with 
your feet in working. With your sash-tool cut carefully 
around the bottom of the plinth or foot of the column of the 
mantle. Then carefully lay on your color to the cap of col- 
umn, cutting the line between the plaster up to the top of 
shelf. Do the other column in like manner. When both are 
complete, do the under part of the shelf, and aftef this do the 
entire front. Lastly, clean off the top of the shelf, and your 
work is finished. This formula will apply to almost every 
species of house-painting. 

SECOND COATING. 

We will now suppose that the work you have just finished 
is the priming, or first coat, of an entirely new house, 
and that your intention is to finish it with but three coats 
of plain white. This being the case, the next thing is 
to prepare work for its second coat as follows : With some 
good, pure putty in the left hand, and a putty-knife in 
your right, fill uj) fiush all nail holes and other imperfections 
in the following manner : Openings or cracks that may be 
found occasioned by the works not being j)roperly put to- 
gether, or from the shrinkage of green lumber j take i^articular 
care to fill up flush all hammer bruises or other imperfections 
to give the work a clean, uniform appearance. After the work 
is entirely puttied up, rub it clean and smooth with Ko. 1 sand- 
paper ; a sheet of which tear in four equal parts, and then 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 5 

double each part as' jou use it with the sanded side outward, 
taking care to rub up and down or across, as the course of the 
grain of the wood may run. On all moulding or beads, double 
up or squeeze your paper so as to remove all particles of fuzz 
that may have been left by the joiner. When all is thoroughly 
cleaned, and the surface is perfectly smooth, remove all parti- 
cles of dust that may have accumulated in using the paper ; 
and after all the work in the room has been done to your sat- 
isfaction, and is ready for the second coat, prepare your color 
as before directed, with the exception, that as this is the sec- 
ond coat, it must necessarily be of a heavier body, or thicker 
than that used as priming — sa}^ as thick as good cream. When 
your color is ready, apply it as before directed, with the ex- 
ception of being more careful in laying off your work than 
you was with the first coat, in order to give the surface as 
smooth an appearance as possible. After giving your work 
sufficient time to dry and become perfectly hard, proceed to 
again rub it off lightly with !N'o. -J sandpaper, as it is much 
smoother and finer than No. 1, and is more suitable to make a 
smooth surface on fresh paint. Should you still find small holes 
or imperfections, putty them up as before, and run the sand- 
paper over the face of the new putty to take off any that may 
remain more than is necessary to make the work flush and 
smooth. 

THIRD COATING. 

In preparing the color for this coat, if you wish to make a 
nice job of it, and that it may remain white and clear, and not 
turn yellow from the warmth of the sun and air, take of the 
best French white zinc, ground in oil — say six pounds — and 
of the best pure white lead, three pounds; stir well together, 
and instead of using Japan for a dryer, add to the above ten 
pounds of color, about half a pound of the best English pat- 
ent dryer, ground in oil, adding a little spirits of turpentine 
to assist you in more thoroughly mixing the dryer with the 
lead. Add a little more turpentine (no oil to be used in this 
coat, as it will surely turn j^ellow on the inside, or where 
it does not get light and air, just as the finest white linen will 
turn yellow by being excluded from the air for a long 
time in laying in .a dark cupboard or drawer), and stir 



6 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

gently until the mixture is of an even consistency. When 
thin enough for use, strain it carefully through a fine 
brass wire strainer set over another pot to receive the strained 
color as it runs through. If the color is a little too thick to 
run through the strainer easily (which it should be), take your 
sash-tool and rub the surface of the wire until it is all through 
except the skins or dried particles of paint adhering to the 
sides of the keg. If lumps of imperfectly mixed lead remain 
in the strainer, put them back into the pot, and, with your 
paddle and a little spirits of turpentine, thoroughly crush 
them, and run them again through your strainer. 

CLEANING THE MIXING POTS. 

When thoroughly strained, wipe out the pot you mixed in 
first with a dry brush (one that you have wiped all of the color 
out of, by drawing it across the paint-stick, or over the edge of 
your pot). Then add a small amount of spirits, • and, with 
your other brush, wash around the inside and outside of your 
l)ot, and across the wires of your strainer, in order to remove 
all the remaining thick paint, and to prevent the strainer and 
bucket from becoming useless. When you have got off all that 
can be washed off with spirits and the brush, take a small 
piece of soft rag (which you should always have with you), 
and wipe off the inside and outside of both strainer and pot, 
and with a stiff', short, clean duster, clean out all small particles 
of paint that yet remain in the meshes of the strainer. If you 
do not wish to use it, or the pot that you first mixed color in, 
for the present, hang each of them in their proper places to be 
ready for future use. Be particular to observe that the three 
great princijiles of any business, and upon which rest all the 
success any one may expect, are, first, econoray in- saving every- 
thing that can be made useful ; second, cleanliness, that you 
may be always able to use any tool you want without the loss 
of time to clean it, when you are busy at something else ; and, 
third, order, that you may be able to put your hands upon any- 
thing you want the moment it is desired. 

READY FOR WORK. 

Now having your color and brushes all clean and ready for 
use, you will proceed to apply it in the same manner as previ- 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 7 

ous coats, taking renewed care in laying off your work and in 
handling your brush, so as not to splatter or throw your color 
(which from its being mixed entirely with spirits, has become 
very limpid or short), and to rub off or clean up all that may fall 
in working it. 

Having finished your work with three good coats of white, 
you may desire to give it a gloss or varnish finish. Should 
this be the case, and you wish to make it a very white, clean 
job of work, give it a fourth coat of pure, white zinc, prepared 
in the same manner as the color for the third coat, with the 
exception that you now add as a portion of your thinners 
three fourths to one pint of pure white Damar varnish to help 
give it a body. The next, or fourth coat, apply as before, lay- 
ing on your color very smooth and with a very light touch of 
the point of the brush to prevent brush-marks. (You will rec- 
ollect that before applying additional coats of paint, the under 
or last coat has become thoroughly dry and hard.) After this 
fourth coat has stood long enough to become hard — say two 
days — you will take of pure French zinc, ground in Damar 
varnish, a sufficient quantity for the surface of the work to be 
glossed — say two pounds of the zinc lead to one fourth of a 
gallon (or even three pints is not too much if the lead be very 
heavy), and stir them well together. If it is cold weather and 
your varnish is heavy, add a very little turpentine to make it 
work free and prevent its being what is called ropy (or show- 
ing the large thick creases you sometimes see on work of this 
kind caused by being laid on too thick). Strain and again ap- 
ply. This coat will now begin to show a beautiful white gloss 
or polish, but will, after it has set, look a little dead, on account 
of not having a sufficient body of varnish under it. When it has 
stood for a couple of days to dry, take what color there is left, if 
any, and add more varnish, so as to make it of the proportion of 
one and a half pounds of zinc lead, ground in Damar varnish, to 
one fourth of a gallon of clear Damar, adding also a little sjoirit to 
make it work free ; again apply as before. If you have followed 
the directions strictly, you will find that you have as pretty a 
job of glossed white as can reasonably be wished for, and which 
will outwear anything that can be put on in the paint line. 



8 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

TO MIX STONE COLOR. 

To mix stone color, or any dark color, take of the best white 
lead ten pounds ; of pure yellow ochre ground in oil, two pounds ; 
of Yenetian, one fourth of an ounce ; and of black, one fourth of 
an ounce. Stir well together. (Always stir coloring with the 
lead before adding any oil to it.) If it is too light, add a little 
more black by tipping the point of your paint-stick into it, and 
stirring until of a shade to suit. It is almost impttssible to give 
a formula of any color that would give a specific quantity of each 
of its compounds, caused by the variation in strength of different 
colors. The same amount of a pure color mixed with another, 
as, for instance, an ounce of pure lampblack, will turn ten 
pounds of lead a very dark shade ; while a pound of an inferior 
black would not make the same quantity of lead half as dark. 
It would not be as clear and transparent as with the pure, but of 
a muddy, cloudy appearance. Drab color is mixed the same as 
stone color, with the exception that you add more yellow and 
red and less black. To make a light brown, add red shaded with 
brown till of a shade to suit. 

WHITENING CEILINGS OR WALLS. 

To whiten or color a ceiling or wall, place your trussel at one 
end of the room ; with a bucket of water remove every particle of 
smoke and soot, using for that purpose an old worn-out coloring 
brush ; sponge dry. If the ceiling has been previously whitened, 
remove every particle of it with brush and sponge ; or should it 
have been whitewashed or scaled, and is hard to remove, first re- 
move all loose particles with a scraper, and then wash clean, as 
the cleaner you get it the less trouble you will have in making a 
good job of work. When the ceilings are thor^oughly cleaned, 
prepare your color aa follows: Take of best Gilder's whitening, 
ten pounds ; of best American zinc, dry, four to five pounds. 
Sift while dry through an ordinary flour seive, and mix with 
water as thick as you can possibly make it. Put a half pound of 
good ordinary white glue in a pot, and pour enough cold water 
on it to cover it. Let it soak for an hour or so, then set it in a 
pan or pot of boiling w^ater, and stir till entirely dissolved. 
While your glue is dissolving, take a half bar of ordinary brown '■« 
soap, and shave it fine in a small quantity of warm water ; 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. \) 

set it on the stove to boil. When your soap and glue are ready, 
pour them into your bucket of Avhitening. If it is too thick, add 
a little cold water, if in warm weather, or a little warm water if 
cold or winter weather. If two persons are engaged, divide the 
color in two water buckets. Place a stick across the center of 
each bucket, by cutting it just long enough to press down tight 
about one inch below the top, as a rest for your brush when 
not in use, and to wipe out the superfluous color while using. 
When ready, both mount the scaffold, one at each end, and apply 
your color, laying it on smoothly and freely, being careful to 
cover every part of your work, taking a space as large as you 
can conveniently reach. Remove your scaffold to another stretch 
in same manner, repeating the operation until the entire ceiling 
is covered. If there is a cornice or ornaments to the room, after 
the flat surface is finished, give them a good coat of preparation, 
using a small three-inch flat brush for the purpose, and your 
small flat fitch to thoroughly color all the ornamQnts. When 
your ceiling has become dry — which in good dry weather will be 
almost as soon as you can go from one side of a ceiling to the 
other — if you have any of your first coating left, add enough of 
pure clean whitening and zinc to make the quantity desired. Add 
a very little white glue well dissolved, stir well together, and 
then thin with cold water until it is the consistency of milk. Go 
over your ceiling again, being careful as before to cover every 
particle of its surface. When dry, your ceiling will present a 
beautiful white appearance. Finish your cornice and center- 
piece, and your work is done. 

To kalsomine or color walls use the same process precisely, 
shading your color or colors to suit the taste, and adding a larger 
solution of glue, in order to prevent its rubbing off. If your 
ceilings are very dirty and stained, as is sometimes the case, the 
addition of a little ultramarine blue will prove of great benefit 
in making your color cover and look solid and smooth. 

TO MAKE TINTED COLORS. 

To make different colors for walls, or tinted colors, as they are 
sometimes called, take of your whitening ready prepared for use. 
To make a pink, add enough of English or French vermillion, well 
worked in water, as will darken the color to four or five shades dark- 
er than you want it, when dry and in order. To get the color to suit 



10 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

you before applying, spread a small quantity of color on a piece of 
paper and lay it on the stove to dry. If it is not dark enough, 
add more red. When of the right shade, strain it through a 
paint-strainer, to get the color thoroughly mixed. Then apply 
as before described. 

To make a French gray, add pure ultramarine blue, in quan- 
tity as your taste desires. Then add dry Indian red, well 
pulverized, to give it a delicate redish tint, but not enough to 
make it a purple; add, in very small quantities at a time, pure 
English drop black until your color is of that peculiar neutral 
tint in which the black, blue and red are so evenly blended 
that neither of them will predominate, and yet all of them 
can be detected. This will make what is called a French gray. 
Strain as before. 

To make lavender, or lilac, take of best No. 40 carmine, 
dry enough to make your color as deep as you require. 
When thoroughly mixed, add enough of French ultramarine 
blue to let neither blue nor carmine predominate. If you wish 
it a warm tint, add but little blue, if a cold tint of lilac, add 
more blue until a required, shade is reached, being careful, in 
every case, to strain your color before using, as if it is not 
perfectly mixed it is apt to look cloudy and streaked, and 
mars the beauty of the work. 

All other shades, both in oil and water color, can be pre- 
pared to suit the taste in the same manner. If green is 
desired, and you want a very delicate tint, use the best Paris 
green to shade with ; or, if a good strong durable green, use 
any of the best chrome greens, as magnesia or Marseilles. If 
brown, use Yan Dyke or burnt umber, or red and black. If 
neither Yan Dyke or umber are warm enough, and you want 
a very brilliant brown, warm up your color with a little 
English or French vermillion, or if you do not desire so ex- 
pensive a color, use the ordinary Yenetian red. If maroon 
color is wanted, use Indian red shaded with a little Prussian 
or celestial blue, shaded to suit. And so On through all 
the different combination of colors that could be thought of or 
desired. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 11 

TO MAKE GRAINING COLORS IN OIL. 

If a light color is desired, take as much white lead as you 
require to do the work. Add yellow ochre until it is as dark as 
you want it; stir the Japan, wash down the sides of 3^ our 
pot, and add thinners till ready for use, and then apply. If 
you wish the base, or any portion of your work darker than 
the rest, add more ochre and a slight tint of Venetian red, till 
of the color required. This combination is universally used 
for graining. But, to make a nice, clean, clear color, take of 
white lead, ten lbs.; light chrome yellow, a half to one and 
three quarters lbs. ; and of the best burnt sienna in oil as much 
as will take the sharpness off of the yellow, being careful to 
not get too much sienna in your color, as it will be apt to 
give your graining too fiery a cast. When ready, apply as 
before. 

TO GRAIN OAK — TOOLS TO BE USED. 

When your groundwork is properly finished and ready for 
graining, before applying your graining color, sandpaper the 
work thoroughly, to get it smooth and free from all rough- 
ness of the paint, and then prepare your graining color as fol- 
lows : Pure burnt sienna, one lb.; raw umber, half lb.; beeswax 
dissolved in boiled oil, one ounce ; of pure whitening groMud 
in oil, to lighten and make your color transparent, one half to 
three quarters lbs.; stir thoroughly together, and to the proper 
consistency, thus prepared, as follows : Of pure turpen- 
tine, three pints ; of boiled oil, one i)int ; of Japan dryer, one 
half pint, thus — turj^entine and Japan to be first well mixed 
to prevent curdling ; then add the oil, mixed well by shaking. 
When the color is ready for use, strain and apply. If too dark 
for the groundwork, add a little more sienna and whitening; 
and if not dark or brown enough, add a little more umber ; and 
if raw umber does not give as brown a cast as you desire, add 
(thoroughly mixing) a little pure burnt umber, and see that all 
the ingredients are perfectly mixed. Strain again before 
using. Then, with a No. 7 or 8 sash-tool dipped in your 
color, apply some of it to the panel or such portion of the work 
you propose graining, and with a three and a half inch paste 
brush thoroughly distribute the color you have put on with 



12 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

the sash-tool until it has covered the entire panel, or such por- 
tion of it as you wish to cover; and so proceed until the entire 
side of door or the piece of work you propose doing is covered. 
If you wish to have a portion of panel or rail a little darker 
than another, as is often found in the natural wood, draw your 
sash-tool over the portion you wish to darken, and with your 
blending brush distribute the color evenly and smoothly. 
When finished and ready for the figuring, if you wish to imi- 
tate the heart of the w^ood, proceed with apiece of canton 
flannel of from four to six inches wide and twelve or fifteen 
long, one corner of which you will have drawn over the thumb, 
so that the nail may make the vein or imitation, being careful 
to shift the flannel over the thumb every moment or two so as to 
always have a clean portion just over the nail. Be sure at all 
times to have a clearly wiped out and distinct vein. Continue 
to add vein after vein until your piece of work has as many 
figures in it as you may think the work requires. Then with 
your coarse comb strike lightly over the work, being sure to 
draw your comb along the course the grain pursues, so as to 
give it an open, crooked appearance of the same figure of oak. 
Then, with a small camel's hair pencil and some thick grain- 
ing color, delicately and neatly strike in the dark shades. 
Comb up the side of your panel, run around the moulding 
with the fine comb, and the panel wnll be ready for shading. 
You will then proceed with the next portion, or what is 
called a light imitation. Finish with your leather, or rubber 
comb carefully two-thirds of the panel. This will produce the 
carefully curved appearance of oak wood. Then comb the 
center a little finer, gently varying the course of the comb by 
holding it diagonally to the course of the grain to be made ; 
then with your coarse and medium steel combs comb up the 
unfinished portion of the panel, being careful to let your 
lines gradual!}^ grow finer from the center or starting points 
until they are as fine as your first comb will make it. and 
with a flannel cloth wipe out the figures or grain of the 
wood, carefully imitating the pattern you have selected to 
copy. After completing your panels, do the meeting or cross 
rails, varying the style of pattern of figure as much as possible, 
to relieve the work of too much sameness, or too much of one 
figure, which does not look well. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 18 

To do graining you should have a full set of combs, consisting 
of a fine, a medium and a coarse comb, each of one, two, 
three and four inches wide, a good leather or India rubber 
comb, one side cut to grain a coarse line, and the other to 
grain a medium or fine line. A good gralner who knows how 
to handle and shape his comb to the work can make the first 
lines by simply modulating the course of his comb, as he draws 
it over his work. In addition to his set of combs, he wants 
a duster, a blender, a three and a half inch paste brush, a sash- 
tool, a top-grainer, two or three small pencils, and his sandiDajDcr, 
to first smooth off the work before applying color. 

SHADENG. 

After graining has become dry, if you wish to shade it, take 
a little thick umber and sienna mixed together upon a pallette 
board or a small piece of window glass, dip the point of your 
sash-tool into the color, and apply it to the portion of panel or 
rail you wish to shade; then with your blending brush carefully 
blend the color all over the part you want darkened, and careful- 
ly wipe out the portion you want to show light; and with your 
blender again soften down the edges of the shade, making a clean 
and distinct line on all portions of both rails and stiles, where 
they join each other, by laying the square edge of a piece of tin 
made for the purpose, or a piece of sandpaper, which is always 
most convenient and will answer as well. Then with your grain- 
ing cloth wipe off all the shading color that may be left on the 
portion you wish left without the shade. Darken the mouldings, 
if there be any to the door or frame, to make a pleasant contrast. 
Leave work to dry. 

Your work has now received three coats of graining color, 
and has been grained and shaded; the pores of the wood must 
necessarily be entirely filled from observation. Should it then 
require varnishing, you must use a first rate article, or your 
work will in a very short time be completely ruined by the 
cracking of the varnish. 

QUALITY OF VARNISH. 

Yarnish sold bj^most of the drug stores is of the cheapest kind, 
and is not fit for anything that has ever had a coat of paint. 



14 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

Kot one dealer in a hundred knows enough of the nature of paint 
or varnish to give the purchaser the proper instructions as to 
what he should buy for his work. The jiurchaser does not re- 
quire much, but wants a good article, and is willing to pay for 
it. Eight here I may as well state the uses of the different 
varnishes and their names. First, or cheapest, sold by all 
dealers, is the No. 1 copal or furniture varnish. This is usually 
adulterated with rosin, and is almost worthless for any pur- 
pose, unless it be to fill up the pores of open grained woods by 
first applying it and afterward scraping it all off. Next, is 
the extra No. 1 copal, which is made of good, pure, selected 
gum-copal and made with care ; when a really good article, it 
is the most serviceable varnish in use, and is used by all fur- 
niture makers for their first or filling-u]3 coat, and upon which 
they rub and prepare their work, with the exception of the 
last or flowing coat, which is alwaj^s of the best (or should be 
of the best) Zanzibar selected gum. The extra No. 1 copal 
can be used for all kinds of interior housework where the nat- 
ural wood is used, and where. the work does not come in contact 
with the sun, as with window sashes or inside shutters, or the 
outside of doors or frames. The best and surest varnish for 
all first or under coats of hard-wood finish, either interior or 
exterior, is the rubbing body or hard drying coach varnish. 
This varnish is prej^ared expressly as a foundation or filling 
varnish for coach work, with hard gum and a little oil, so as 
to admit of being easily rubbed down to a polishing surface. 
It also combines durability of wear with quick drying, and be- 
comes hard enough to rub in from four to five days after the 
application of each coat. These qualities give it a superior 
advantage over all other varnishes made, anid should at all 
times give it a decided preference over any other. 

Where parties desire a good and lasting job of work, it must 
be borne in mind that the hard drying coach varnish should 
be finished with a flowing coat of the best Zanzibar, or the best 
flowing coach or English coach varnish, as a hard- drying var- 
nish is capable of being rubbed to a polish, and not having 
as much oil in its combination as the flowing or finishing var- 
nishes, is apt to go dead, or blind, if left to come in contact 
with the atmosphere. As our instructions in varnishing hard 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 15 

wood will cover that point, wc will drop it here, and resume it 
under a more general heading. 

In varnishing grained work, no one should think of using a 
No. 1 copal, as it is only a fiUing-up varnish, and from its liabil- 
ity to crack, would ruin any painted groundwork on which it 
is used, no matter how much boiled oil the painter may use 
with it— as is often practiced by unscrupulous and rascally men 
who have no regard for their reputation either for honesty or 
workmanship. This rascality is practiced every day in this 
and every other city in the country, and is encouraged by the 
owners of buildings and contractors, and by worthless stokers 
and deckhands on steamboats, who daub the spars and buckets 
with a simple mixture of boiled oil and white lead in any way 
that will cover the grain of the wood and make it look clean. 
These fellows, when their occupation is gone by the boat again 
resuming its regular trips, have the effrontery to aj)2^1y to the 
first boss for a situation as a full-fledged painter. Being the 
busy season, and needing help, the boss puts one of these men 
(fresh from painting his last steamboat bucket) to work prim- 
ing brick wall, or some other work that he cannot j)Ossibly 
spoil. The boss soon discovers who his new man is, but, as he 
is short of help, the man is retained as an assistant until the 
hurry is over, and is paid off at what he is worth. Having 
acquired another new idea of painting, the man engages with 
another boss for a day or two. It is often the case that he will 
not work for a boss more than an hour. (I have myself dis- 
charged and set to work three different men in an hour, all of 
them professing to fully understand the work.) By the time 
our amateur painter has been employed and discharged by 
five or six — possibly ten or twelve — shops, he has worked, in 
that time, say two weeks, and has had an opportunity to see 
the inside and outside finish of some pretty well painted 
houses, he considers his education in the painting business 
fully equal to the best workman in the city. As the busy sea- 
son is ended, and he can no longer procure work, he is ready 
to start an establishment for himself. 

Having no proper knowledge of the business, he purchases 
spurious drugs and inferior oils, makes cheap blind cash con- 
tracts, ruins half a dozen well painted houses, is found out. 



16 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

leaves his bills unpaid, and "jumps the town," to repeat the 
eame course of daubing and rascality in another locality. 

Kesume. — The painter, in order to make a good and perma- 
nent job (jf his graining, just done, must give it two good coats 
of varnish, as follows: the first coat should.be of the best hard- 
drying or rubbing body coach, applied just thick enough to flow 
easily and smoothly. When the work is finished, it should be 
given at least one week to dry, before putting en the last coat, 
When ready for the last coat, the work should be smoothly 
rubbed down with very fine sandpaper or a bunch of haircloth, 
then well dusted off, and a first-rate flowing coat of the best flow- 
ing varnish, or if great durability is desired, finish with a coat 
of best medium drying English coach varnish. Much of the 
varnishing now done is finished with but one heavy coat of flow- 
ing varnish the first year, and is let stand until the next season, 
when the last or finishing coat is applied. 

It would be almost impossible to go sufficiently into detail to 
give an accurate and intelligible description of all the different 
ways of doing the different kinds of graining now practiced, but 
if you wish to pursue the business of graining, the best 
course will be to connect yourself with a competent grainer, 
one Avell practiced in his business, and remain with him until 
you have a perfect knowledge of the business in all its branch- 
es. Eosewood, maple, black and white walnut, cherry, and 
mahogany, are nearly all done best in distemper or water col- 
ors. But as we have but little space left us, and all who have 
practiced graining to any extent know its uses and applica- 
tion, we will proceed 

TO VARNISH ON THE NATURAL WOODS. 

The painter or varnisher should at all times be careful to 
remove every stain or spot from his work before priming. 
Should he find any bruise or stain that he cannot remove, he 
should at once apply to the carpenter for assistance. When 
complete and clean, he should commence his work and complete 
it as follows : All white jDine, cherry or maple should have 
three good coats of best rubbing body coach, or extra ^o. 1 
copal varnish (the former being much more durable, and not 
so liable to crack or lose its polish as the latter) ; the work 
to be thoroughly and smoothly rubbed down with No. sand- 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 17 

paper after applying each coat, except the last, or third coat, 
when there should be an interval of at least four or five days 
between the application of each coat, to enable the under coat 
to get thoroughly dry. The varnish should be as heavy, and 
applied as freely, as the judgment of the varnisher (which 
experience only can teach) will permit, after the last coat has 
stood not less than four days. (It would be better if it 
stood ten.) The surface should be rubbed down with a 
haircloth rubber and No.^, or not coarser than No. 1, pulverized 
pummice stone and water until it has received a perfectly 
smooth, even surface. Now lay aside your haircloth rubber, 
and, with a rubber made of woollen cloth, rub the entire sur- 
face of the work with a little pummice stone and water, grad- 
ually working the pummice stone out of the rubber until there 
is little else than water in it. When the work assumes a 
bright or polished appearance, wash it down as clean as possi- 
ble with brush and sj)onge — the brush to remove all particles 
of pummJce stone from the corners or edges of mouldings, 
and the sponge to absorb the water — and wipe dry with a cha- 
mois skin. Your work will then be ready for flowing. 

Should you only desire to finish the wood with the flowing 
coat, you will, when ready, prepare it by thoroughly cleaning 
all floors, shelving, or anything that will catch dust or dirt, in 
the room, and after closing all windows, transoms and 0]3en- 
ings that would admit of a circulation of air from the outside. 
Then with brush and water wash the work, using great care 
to remove every particle of pummice stone or dust from the 
corners and mouldings that may not have been removed by 
the first washing. Wipe dry with chamois skin, as before, 
being careful to clean and sponge the angles of junction with 
work and floor, so that, in varnishing, your brush cannot pos- 
sibly come in contact with any particle of dirt. When the 
washing is finished, sprinkle the floors, and keep them damp, 
to prevent dust from rising while the work is in progress. 

You will then apply the best flowing varnish, made from the 
pure Zanzibar gum (which the writer has found to be reliable), 
or the best Noble's & Hoare English coach varnish, using a 
one inch flat fitch flowing, and a two inch brush of the same 
material. Commence the work as follows : First rub the 
2 



18 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

surface to be flowed thoroughly by drawing the palm of your 
hand over it, letting the fingers clean all the small surfaces of 
the angles of every particle of dust that may have settled upon 
the work. Then, with your small brush, lay the varnish on 
your mouldings, running entirely around the ]Danel. When 
the moulding is finished, carefully remove with a dry brush 
any little saging or settling that may develop itself or accumu- 
late in the corners. When you find the varnish perfectly set, 
proceed in the same manner with the two inch or large brush, 
to lay the varnish upon the panel until every particle of the 
surface is covered. Then lay it off" by carefully drawing your 
nearly dry brush up and down, in order to draw out or obliter- 
ate all brush marks that may be left after the first application 
of varnish. Eepeat this operation on each panel of the door, 
until finished. In like manner, with a large No. 3-0 brush (to 
be perfectly clean and free from specks), flow the low or bottom 
rail of the door ; then the small center rail between panels ; 
then the lock rail ; thQn the center rail between two upper 
panels ; then the top rail ; then the two side rails (bringing 
them down evenly at the same time to the bottom), and your 
door is finished. When you commence upon the rails, get over 
them as fast as possible, to prevent your varnish from setting 
at the ends of the rail joining the side, and to avoid laps of 
the varnish. In flowing the side rails (and this is the reason 
for doing the bottom rail first), you will work to the top, as the 
work on the upj^er portion of the door is most seen, and 
imperfections noticed, and does not show so readily at the 
bottom. The writer could hardly find room on paper to state 
all the different phases that occur to the workman in this one 
branch of the painting business — caused by the position of the 
work, the temperature of the weather, the cleanliness of the 
air from minute particles, and many other things which must 
be taken advantage of and be guarded against by the skill and 
tact of the workman, in order to insure a perfect job of work. 

The painter should at all times have with him a small cup 
partly filled with varnish, and a small brush, to be used in re- 
touching those parts of his work not perfectly clean, or where 
he has doubts of its perfect cleanliness, such as carvings and 
angles coming in contact with the floors or ceilings. He 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 19 

should make it his first duty to attend to those places, so as to 
set or fasten particles of dirt that may not have been removed 
hy the washings. By this precaution he will avoid soiling his 
brushes and prevent his varnish from becoming thick or dirty. 

"White walnut, oak, ash and chestnut, being of coarse, open 
grain, must have at least two more coats than pine or cherry, 
and in addition to that should have a cojtt of patent filling and 
shellac, as follows : Prime the work with a good coat of filling, 
and after standing a day or two to dry, give it a light coat of 
pure white shellac varnish. When this has become thoroughly 
dry, rub the surface with almost smooth sandpaper, or old 
pieces that have been used before. Then apply a coat of the 
best hard drying coach or rubbing body coach, as near full 
strength as you can. When this coat is thoroughly dry, again 
rub the surface of the varnish smooth, and repeat until you 
have applied at least four coats, giving as much time between 
each coat to dry, as the nature of your work will permit. If 
after applying four coats, you find that the pores or soft parts 
of the grain are not thoroughly filled, which will be more 
probable with ash, oak xind chestnut (except it be veneers), 
sandpaper it again, and give it another ooa*t. Hub it as before 
directed. 

As perfect rubbing is an art only acquired by long practice 
and experience, I would recommend any one proposing to do 
a fine piece of work to first obtain the services of the best 
practical varnish rubber and polisher he can find, and put him- 
self entirely under his instruction. After the work has been 
filled and rubbed, you should desire to polish instead of flow- 
ing the surface, give the work a flowing coat of the best piano 
polishing varnish, and let it dry for at least ten days. When 
thoroughly dry, take a cloth rubber, with pummice stone and 
water, and remove the top of gloss from the varnish. When 
perfectly smooth, again rub very carefully and thoroughly with 
pulverized rotten-stone and water, cleaning off and giving the 
final polish with the palm of the hand, which must be very 
soft and smooth and free from dirt or grit, as the slightest j)ar- 
ticle of either will make scratches that will ruin its appearance 
and necessitate the re-rubbinsr of the entire work. 



20 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

BLACK WALNUT. 

Black walnut, to give it an oil polish or French polish, as it 
is sometimes called, should first have a coat of patent filling 
well rubbed in and cleaned off. It should then have four good 
coats of brown shellac varnish applied at intervals of three or 
four days. When thoroughly dry, rub down with very fine 
smooth sandpaper and boiled linseed oil until you get a hard, 
smooth and impervious polish. 

To finish without polish, first fill the grain of the wood with a 
coat of patent filling, and when dry, finish by rubbing oil and 
shellac into the wood with a cloth rubber, and adding oil and 
shellac until your work has a smooth, dead, solid finish, which, 
■when well done, has a very pleasant effect in contrast with other 
woods that are varnished and have a high polish. It has also an 
advantage over the first process, as it enables the painter to finish 
his work at once and without delay. Both processes admit of a 
a great deal of practice, as the party rubbing is apt (as in the 
varnish) to rub through the different coats to the wood. A 
practical eye can at once easily detect a place that has been cut 
in rubbing. All other kinds of wood can be finished in oil by 
the same process, but light-colored woods do not look so well in 
oil as with the varnish finish. 

VARNISHING ON PAINTED WORK, 

In varnishing wood that has had paint upon it, none but the 
best flowing varnish should be used, and to make the work look 
well the painter should apply his varnish as freely as it will con- 
sistently bear, blending it out carefully and evenly. When his 
piece ot work is finished, he should look over all the corners of 
mouldings and ends of panels, wiping up, with a dry brush, all 
runs or anything that tends to settle. When he is satisfied that 
the varnish has so far set as to have no further tendency to run, 
he will leave it to become hard and dry. Should he find in the 
varnish a tendency to crawl or not properly adhere to the work, 
as is often the case in chilly or damp weather, he will add one 
tablespoonful of spirits of ammonia to each pot of varnish, which 
will make his varnish adhere without further trouble. But he 
must be careful not to put too much ammonia in it, as it will 
make it too strong and have a tendency to mar or dampen the gloss. 
After the work is varnished, and has stood for three or four days, 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 21 

to become thoroughly dry, and you should wish it to look extra 
well, rub the surface of the work with haircloth until all the gloss 
has been removed. Then dust off well, and apply another smooth 
flowing coat of clean varnish. Your work will then have a pol- 
ish and a durability of wear that will repay you for the trouble 
and cost of the extra coat. By the application of a third coat, 
after due time is given for the last, or second coat to dry, he will 
have a sufiicient body of varnish to rub and polish, should he 
desire to go that far. 

The painter will bear in mind that he can put on paint a coat 
every day, one over the other, until his work has received the 
required number of coats, and do his work no especial harm. 
But with varnish he will find (especially if he desire a nice job> 
and wishes to rub it down) that he must give it time to become 
perfectly dry before putting one coat upon the other ; and also 
that he must have a sufficient number of coats (according to the 
nature of the wood) to enable him to do so without rubbing his 
work through the varnish. Pine and cherry being of a close 
fine grain, will look well with two coats of good extra No. 1 
copal, and a last or flowing coat, while white walnut, black wal- 
nut and mahogany will require four coats and a coat of filling. 
Ash, oak and chestnut will require a coat of filling and four coats 
of hard drying or extra No. 1 copal (whichever you may choose 
to use), to fill them up to a sufficient surface to rub down perfect- 
ly ; and frequently this is not enough to make a perfect polish- 
ing surface to work upon. In doing a nice job of this kind of 
work, when a polish is required, too much care cannot be taken 
to make it perfect. 

To owners of buildings who intend using the hard-wood finish 
of their natural color, I would say, spare no pains in getting a 
first-class workman, and see that the full number of coats of the 
right kind of varnish is applied ; also, that they are put on at 
the proper time and in a workmanlike manner, as it is the easiest 
thing in the world to entirely ruin the grain of the prettiest wood 
by employing inferior workmen, or by improper application. 

GLAZING 

Is a branch so intimately connected with the Painter's trade as 
to be indispensable to it. No Painter thinks of having a sign 
over his door without the words " Painter and Grlazier," and yet 



22 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

not one Painter in a hundred can be called a perfect Glazier. 
To be a good and fast Glazier is a fine thing, and is a sure foot- 
hold to a steady and permanent situation, and the possessor of 
this accomplishment is always sure to be a favorite in the shop. 

The manner of running putty on is so simple that it is 
unnecessary to describe the process. The Glazier must have a 
good, clean cut, nearly square-edged putty-knife; his putty must 
be well mixed, and of a consistency to be easily molded under 
the fingers. As practice alone will make a perfect Glazier, we 
leave him to graduate in that way. 

CLEANING OLD VARNISH. 

'No old varnish should ever be done over, or revarnished until it 
has been perfectly cleaned. Rub it lightly with a cloth rag and 
pummice stone and water, in the usual manner. Washing with 
soap and water will not entirely remove the smoke that always 
accumulates uj^on work that stands for any length of time in this 
climate. Before varnishing, the work should be well washed 
with a short brush and sponge, and wiped with chamois, to make 
it clean and free from all particles of pummice stone that may 
have been left on the work in cleaning. Old varnish that has 
been previously well done, when cleaned and varnished in this 
manner, has a splendid gloss, and looks a great deal better than 
any unrubbed work can look. The old varnish being well dried, 
it gives a hard, smooth foundation to finish on. 

WAXING. 

To wax hard woods, instead of oiling or varnishing, have the 
work well cleaned, using a proportion of one pound of white 
wax, one pound of boiled linseed oil, one pound spirits of turpen- 
tine, heated over a slow fire until reduced to a liquid state, being 
careful not to let it burn or become scorched. Apply with a 
brush or cloth, and rub well into the pores of the wood. When 
well filled, rub hard with corkwood until polished. Should you 
not succeed in perfectly filling the wood by the first application, 
give it a second coat, polishing off with the corkwood until the 
surface is smooth and hard. Should you desire to have it per- 
^fectly free from stickiness, give it a light thin coat of white shel- 
ac varnish, and rub smooth with haircloth until dry — always 
^ubbing with the grain. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 23 

In waxing floors, d© not use oil in the wax, but thin up entire- 
ly with spirits of turpentine, applying it as freely as possible and 
always while hot, as when cold it does not penetrate the wood 
so easily. Should too much remain upon the floor to be rubbed, 
remove it with a large piece of haircloth placed over a block 
provided with a handle. Rub until the floor is perfectly full and 
smooth. 

To clean old floors that have been previously waxed, remove 
every particle of dirt by scraping with a steel scraper (such as 
is used by carpenters to scrape wood), and wash clean with tur- 
pentine. Eub well with the haircloth rubber, and wax as before 
directed. 

TO PAINT BRICK WORK. 

Clean it thoroughly with an old stiff broom or brush, and 
prime with pure yellow ochre and boiled linseed oil. When 
ready for the second coat, putty up all the large holes and other 
imperfections. If you wish to produce a light stone color, take 
two thirds of pure yellow ochre and one third of pure white 
lead, add a very little lampblack and a slight tint of Venetian 
red to give it a warm tint; stir well together; add, while yet 
thick, sufficient Japan dryer to dry it well, and mix thoroughly. 
Thin with raw oil to the proper thickness, and apply carefully. 
When ready for the third or last coat, take what you have left of 
the second coating, if any, and add as much lead to it as you 
think it will require, with yellow ochre, and a slight tint each, in 
very small quantities at a time, of black and Venetian red, until 
you have the tint desired. Aj^ply as before instructed. 

If you wish to make the cornice of a darker shade, take some 
of your finishing color and add red, yellow and black to it until 
of the required shade. 

To paint a tin roof, or any metal work, I would recommend 
Prince's brown and pure boiled linseed oil. This being 78 per 
cent, pure iron and perfectly free from all acids, has more affinity 
for and is better adapted as a covering for all galvanized iron 
and tin, or other metal work, than any other pigment known. 
Yellow ochre and Venetian red being of pretty much the same 
nature, are as good, but no better ; the brown having the prefer- 
ence on account of its fineness and great covering capacity, cov- 
ering more space with the same quantity than either the red or 
yellow. 



24 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 



LEARNING THE TRADE. 

To young men proposing to learn the House and Sign Paint- 
ing trade, I would say, apprentice yourself to one who, from his 
reputation, is known to be not only a good workman, but also 
strictly honorable and honest in all his dealings. Go to work 
with the full determination of learning the business thoroughly. 
Do not loiter or play during working hours, though others and 
older persons than you do. Obey your boss to the letter ; be in- 
dustrious, persevering, and careful to do everything as you are 
instructed, and by all means endeavor to finish your entire term 
of apprenticeship with the man with whom you first engaged, as 
in this way only will you succeed in becoming perfect. When 
you have served your full time, work at least one year, if not two, 
with other good bosses, in order to become perfectly familiarized 
with the manner of different bosses in doing their work. 

If you should desire to start the business for yourself, find a 
friend or acquaintance who has a house to build, make him an 
offer to do the painting, being sure that your offer will at leasi 
pay you reasonable days' wages. In making your estimates, be 
careful to ascertain what all the material and tools will cost, esti- 
mating for the very best qualities. Be particular to make a first 
class job of work. And by all means, whether you realize fair 
days' wages or not, pay every dollar of indebtedness you contract 
for promptly, and from the start. Show to your customers, and 
to those from whom your purchase stock, that you are a strictly 
honest and honorable man. You will find it an uphill business 
to push against the world, but persevere, and you will eventually 
succeed. 

Save your earnings by investing them in a good set of tools? 
such as ladders, buckets, scaffold ropes, and all the different para- 
phernalia of a well-appointed shop. As fast as your cash accu- 
mulates beyond jour wants, put it to some good and useful pur- 
pose, investing it in such material as your trade most demands. 
Never lose sight of the maxim upon which you base your busi- 
ness — to do justice to all men, no matter whether it puts money 
in or takes it from your purse. Should you at any time, while 
in business, by miscalculation or otherwise, take a job of work 
by which you will lose money, do not slight the work in the least 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 25 

on that account, but finish it just as well, and use just as good 
material as if it paid a profit. Show to your customer that, 
though you do not make anything on his work, you are not 
taking advantage of him. By pursuing this honest course, it will 
take but a few years for you to become known, and when 
this is accomplished, it will no longer remain an up-hill busi- 
ness with you. Parties will give you their work in full con- 
fidence, dealers will solicit your trade, and not only offer you 
credit, but will sell you their best articles at their very lowest 
prices. 

ADULTERATIONS OF PAINTS, &c. 

With many years of experience as a user and worker of paints, 
we have learned to think there is no white paint as durable as 
pure white lead combined with pure linseed oil. This is univer- 
sally acknowledged as the standard of all white paints; but owing 
to the great competition — the result of which has been to throw 
upon the market vast quantities of combinations composed of 
different white substances, such as china, clay, whitening, zinc 
and sulphate ofbarytes — to such an extent has this system of 
adulteration been carried, that the question with manufacturers 
is not, •' What can we produce as a paint that will preserve and 
protect from the weather?" but, " How can we produce a paint, 
or substitute, that will enable us to undersell our neighbor ?" 
The party who can produce an article the nearest resembling lead 
in whiteness and bulk, at the least cost of production, will, for 
the time, be most successful. We find it well to say here, in the 
language of our worthy co-worker in the paint and oil trade, 
Mr. Breiniq, that as the margin to the paint-grinder in the pre- 
paration of pure lead is so very small, the object is to imitate 
pure lead as near as possible in appearance, size of keg and work- 
ing. As there is but one article that comes near to the gravity 
of white lead, and which is universally used for adulteration, 
viz : sulphate of barytes. This being a pure white, and as heavy 
as lead, and having no coloring power whatever, is used largely 
for adulterating all kinds ofj^aintand colors. We speak con- 
scientiously when we say we do not think one-fifth of all the lead 
and colors sold in the United States is perfectly free from a more 
or less per cent, of adulteration with this article. This article 



26 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

has no affinity for either lead or oil, and though you may grind 
it with lead and oil until it is an impalpable powder, its adhesive 
power will be of no more value as a covering body than so much 
sand, and will only act as a divider of the particles of lead and 
oil and make them more susceptible to the rays of the sun and 
the action of the weather, causing it, in a very short time, to rub 
off like dust. It is also perfectly useless as a preserver of the 
wood or other substance to which it is applied. 

We would recommend those who propose painting, to at all 
times buy of parties in which they have perfect confidence, as 
there is no article of commerce so easily adulterated and so hard 
to detect, until practically tested, as white lead and colors. Do 
not buy an article represented as lead that is sold at a less rate 
than the regular price for the pure article. If you depart from 
this rule you will certainly be cheated. 

GENERAL HINTS ON COMBINATION OF COLOR. 

The four principal colors most used by the painters are yel- 
low ochre, Venetian red, lampblack, and white lead, from which 
almost every conceivable shade of composite color can be made. 
All paints are mixed in exactly the same way (or at least should 
be); — i. e., the dryer, whether it be patent dryer or liquid, should 
be first perfectly mixed with the base or predominate color before 
it is thinned up for use, especially if the thinners used is entirely 
of linseed oil, as is the case for outside work. Japan mixed with 
color that has been first thinned to a working consistency with 
oil is of little use, owing to its tendency to coagulate or curdle 
in coming in contact with the oil, thus losing all, or nearly all, of 
its drying properties. It also tends to make the color look 
muddy, and works badly under the brush, from the large amount 
of gluey or curdled gum left floating on the paint from improp- 
erly mixing. Japan dryer should never be used in any delicate 
shade of color, nor should it be used as a dryer for white, except 
as a priming or first coat, owing to the darkness of its composi- 
tion. The best English patent dryer is the most commonly used 
of any other for all white lead zinc, and for all other delicate 
shades of color, such as violet, ashes of roses, Paris green, pinks, 
&c., &c., and for the most delicate of white. In flake whites, 
nothing but sugar of lead should be used as a dryer; white, or 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 27 

zinc lead used as a base for all composite colors that partake of 
a gray or drab tint. To make a drab, take of white lead the 
fourth of the quantity you want, and after mixing in your dryer 
thoroughly, add yellow ochre till of a light cream color, then the 
slightest possible tint of Venetian red and lampblack. If not 
yellow enough, add yellow ; if not gray enough, add a little 
more black ; if not warm enough, add a little red ; and so on 
until you have the shade desired. By adding either of the above 
colors, your tint may be made lighter or darker, and to match 
any color you ivish. The same formula will answer for light, me- 
dium, or dark stone color, or for light or dark yellow drab. By 
letting the red and black predominate, you can produce any 
shade of brown color, and with pure white lead and burnt umber, 
you can produce the most delicate of all the drab tints. 

White lead and yellow ochre will produce a very pretty shade 
of oak ground, and is almost entirely used for nearly all the oak 
graining now done. 

White lead, orange chrome yellow, and a slight tint of burnt 
sienna, makes the most beautiful shade of color that can be pro- 
duced for oak graining, and can be made lighter or darker, to 
suite the taste, by the addition of a proportionate quantity of 
chrome yellow and sienna. 

The same composition, with the addition of a little English 
vermilion, or Yenetian red, will make a very handsome shade of 
salmon or flesh color. White lead, with ultramarine blue, drop 
black, and Indian red, makes a Frencjh gray. 

White lead, Indian red, with slight tint of ultramarine blue, 
makes violet or lavender. White lead or zinc, with carmine, 
makes peach blossom, and with a little cobalt blue, makes a most 
delicate shade of lavender. The same combination, with a little 
ivory black to take off the sharpness of the blue, and carmine, 
makes the most delicate tints of gray that can be produced. 
White lead, with a little lampblack, makes a lead color, and so 
on until, as before remarked, almost any color, or combination of 
colors can be produced from the proper combining of the whole 
with the three primary colors, red, black and yellow, or Eochelle 
ochre. These four ingredients, in the hands of one who is con- 
versant with the combination and harmony of colors, is capable 
of producing almost as many varieties of tints as there are letters 
in the alphabet. 



28 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

Prussian blue and chrome yellow make green ; and by their 
proper combination, all the different shades of chrome green are 
made. Prussian blue, burnt umber and chrome yellow (the 
later to be used as the base of the color) make a very delicate 
shade of bronze green. 

Chrome yellow and lampblack (the later added in very small 
quantities) will make a ver}' pleasant shade of bronze green, and 
is that w^hich is most generally used by painters in this city. 

Chrome green and Yenetian red in equal parts make a good 
groundwork for black walnut, and when stippled with umber 
and over-grained with Van Dyke brown in distemper, the lights 
wiped out with a sponge, and again over-grained with an over- 
grainer, make a most beautiful crotch of black walnut. 

Chrome yellow and red lead makes a mahogany ground for 
graining, but white lead, chrome yellow and burnt sienna make 
the best ground for mahogany. 

White lead and chrome yellow make a ground for maple or 
satinwood. 

Venetian red and chrome yellow make a groundwork for rose- 
wood, though very little else than the clear Venetian red (always 
mixed perfectly flat, or without oil), is the article most used by 
painters. 

Any of the above combinations will answer in distemper or 
water colors, in coloring walls or ceilings, and produce the same 
effect, with the exception that in place of white lead (which from 
its weight is apt to precipitate or settle), Paris white or zinc lead 
is used, as per formula before given. 

Putty is made from pure Spanish whitening and linseed oil, 
kneaded like dough until hard or stiff enough for use. To make 
it dry quickly and hard, add a little letharge ; but it is more lia- 
ble to last or wear if it is set naturally or without any dryer, as 
it is very apt to shrink and crack off from drying too fast. All 
glass set in sky-lights, hot-beds, or green-houses, should be laid 
or bedded in putty, and well sprigged down. All superfluous 
putty should be cleaned out from the under side, and the space 
between the wood and glass on the outside neatly and smoothly 
pressed down to a perfect level with the glass. No putty should 
be used in the angles, as is commonly done, but instead, the space 
that is usually occupied or filled with putty, should be well 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 29 

traced with two good, heavy coats of white lead, yellow ochre, 
or red lead mixed with nothing but boiled linseed oil. The 
paint should be put freely in the angle of the sash-bar, or 
muntin (the wood portion dividing two or more lights) and glass, 
and should be run on to the glass as far as the putty line of 
the bedding shows from beneath the glass. Sash glazed in 
this manner, if properly painted every three or four years, will 
last without leaking, unless the glass is broken, for a longer 
time than by tho old process. 

Spanish whiting, red lead, and litharge, combined in equal 
parts, makes a putty that will dry and harden under water, and 
is used for glazing aquariums and all other vessels used to hold 
water. 

BRUSHES. 

The brushes mostly in use by the practical painter are of the 
round kinds — the 5-0, 6-0, 7-0. A few of them who like a very 
large brush, use the 8-0 paint brush. 

The sash-tool most used are the French sash, and of the !N'os. 
5, 6, 7 and 8 ; the latter being the largest size generally used. 
The flat or paste brushes most used are the three and a half inch, 
mostly used by grainers for rubbing in their color, and the four 
and five inch by the painter, for brick work, and for all large 
surfaces. These brushes are all made of three qualities (except 
sash-tools and varnish-tools, which are made wholly from white 
bristles). The qualities of bristles are as follows: The best or 
Okatka (the name is derived from the place of production) ; the 
bristles are all white, and are long, stiff, but very flexible. 
These are put into the most expensive brushes. The second 
quality is composed of an outer coating of say one third all 
white bristles, and the inner two-thirds of all gray bristles. 
The third, or common quality, is composed of a very small outer 
coating of white bristles of any kind, so they are long enough, 
and the balance of the space filled with Tampico hemp — a very 
long, stiff, white grass largely imported from Mexico and the 
West India Islands. This latter brush is made only for the 
country trade, and cannot be sold to any one who has had expe- 
rience in the handling of a paint brush. As all painters, or 
those who have had any experience, know their uses, as also 
their difference in quality, we will pass them by, and again refer 
to varnishes. 



30 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

VARNISHES RESUMED. 

There are eight kinds of varnish used in house-painting, as 
follows: Asphaltum or black varnish, used for backing grate 
fronts and all kinds of iron work. It is sometimes used, v^^hen 
diluted with spirits of turpentine, as a stain to imitate black wal- 
nut. No. 1 copal, or cheap furniture varnish, composed of 
gum, resin, linseed oil, spirits of turpentine, is of very 
littlp use, except as a cheap article with which to demor- 
alize the market and spoil good wood-work. Extra ]No. 1 
copal or furniture, made of the pure gum copal (entirely a for- 
eign product, none of it ever having been found in this country), 
pure linseed oil and spirits of turpentine boiled to a very high 
deo-ree of heat. This is the only varnish used by furniture ma- 
kers who have any pretensions to the turning out of a good and 
well-finished article. The next of the class is the hard-drying 
or rubbing body coach varnish, made from the same but more 
carefully selected gum. Linseed oil and turpentine are used as 
the foundation coats of all coach bodies, and for all finest class 
house work finished with the natural wood, and is made for the 
express purpose from which it derives its name, to be rubbed 
down to a polishing surftice. It is not good as a finishing or last 
coating varnish, as it is a very hard dryer, which has a tendency 
to deaden its gloss. 

FloAving varnish is the next best quality, and is made of the 
very best quality of Zanzibar, with the proportions of oil and 
turpentine so nicely blended as to make it set or dry in just the 
time necessary to render it a perfect piece ©f work. It is the 
varnish with which all nice furniture is finished, and derives its 
name from its use, as it is always put on or flowed as freely as it 
can possibly be done without running or sagging. 

Finishing coach body is the next best class of varnish, and, 
like the flowing, is made of the very best material, the one ex- 
ception being that the oil is more perfectly boiled and clarified, 
and there is less turpentine in it than any other varnish, which 
makes it dry much slower. This varnish is used as the last or 
finishing coat for all coach bodies, and for all other wood or iron 
work upon which varnish is put as .a preservative and beauti- 
fier. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 31 

The English coach has, so far, from the same cause, borne the 
best reputation as a wearing and durable varnish, and is largely 
sold and used in this country by all who desire to produce good 
work. 

The next varnish used by the house-painter is Damar varnish, 
and is composed of gum Damar and spirits of turpentine, and 
can be made either cold or hot, though the heating of the tur- 
pentine to about 175 to 190 degs. (not higher, as the gas arising 
from turpentine at a much higher degree is apt to ignite), 
makesa much quickerand better mixed varnish, and is composed 
of about four pounds of gum to the gallon of turpentine. This 
varnish is principally used to varnish all light-colored papers 
and delicate wall tints, and is the varnish from which, with the 
addition of Frencli zinc, the porcelain or enamel white is made. 
When well and properly made, it produces the prettiest white 
finish ever used in house painting. 

Our next, and very useful varnish, is made from gum lac or 
shellac, as it is commonly called. This is made from alcohol 
spirits of 96 per cent, proof, as no less will perfectly dissolve it, 
and is made by adding three to four pounds of shellac to the 
gallon, and agitating it until entirely dissolved or taken up by 
the spirits. This varnish is what our oiled furniture or French 
polishers finish with (as before described), and is capable of 
being finished very beautifully. It is also called knotting var- 
nish, being used as a substitute to kill knots. Pine wood that 
is to be finished a gloss white or porcelain finish, should always 
have a coat of shellac varnish before a particle of paint is put 
on it. 

Lastly, comes the most useful of all — the Japan varnish or 
dryer. This varnish or dryer enters into the every day con- 
sumption of the painter to such an extent, and is so universally 
known, that we will pass it by, with our compliments for its 
usefulness. 

CONCLUDINtS RDVIARKS. 

We did think we would say something in this little treatise 
on the plain facts about painting, but we have now extended our 
little book much further, and said a great deal more than we 
intended. We should like to have said something about the 
application of paints to prevent cracking or blistering. As also 



32 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

something in regard to the combination and harmony of tints of 
color in the decorating of walls and ceilings. We cannot, how- 
over, close without saying a word or two about the varnishing of 
paper, which has lately become so prevalent. 

VARNISHING PAPER. 

To varnish a delicate tinted paper, and preserve its normal 
color, great care must be taken in preparing and applying the 
size. Take of the best A extra white glue, as much as you think 
you Avill require to give your work two good coats of size. Let 
it soak for an hour, or over night, in cold water. Then set your 
pail of soaked glue into a kettle of boiling water, first pouring off 
the cold water remaining unabsorbed by the glue, and replacing 
it with boiling water. Stir until entirely dissolved; then dilute 
with cold water until of proper consistency, apply carefully with 
a very soft six or eight-inch coloring brush, touching the paper 
as lightly as possible, and at the same time spreading the size as 
evenly as you can, until you have given the entire surface of the 
paper one coat. Let this coat get well dried, and, after thicken- 
ing your size, go over the paper again, giving it a thorough coat, 
spreading the color right and left, and laying it off up and down. 
When dry, give it a good coat of pure white Damar varnish, 
being careful to have it thinned to its proper consistency. Before 
you finish each stretch or panel of the work, if the tint will stand 
the test, and not change its color, you will improve your varnish 
by adding about a pint to the gallon of the best pale finishing 
coach varnish, as Damar varnish alone is not a very durable or 
wearing varnish, and is easily rubbed off. For all dark papers, 
like oak or walnut, any varnish that you would use on grained 
work will do. and in fact is better for the work than any other. 

ITEMS OF INTEREST TO THE PAINTER. 

Yermilion is a French word which signifies worm-dye, and was 
originally so called from the fact that the color was first pro- 
duced from the dried bodies of a species of small insects, called 
kcrmes, who feed upon the oaks in the vicinity of the Mediterra- 
nean Sea. Hence, vermilion has come to be the name of all red 
colors of its class, even those which are produced from minerals. 

The vermilion of antimony was invented in 1833 by Lampo- 
dias, and consists of a red sulphuret of antimony, in the form of 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 33 

a very fine, inodorous and insipid powder, insoluble in water, al- 
cohol and spirits, and subject to but little change by contact with 
the weak acids, or by the strong mineral acids. It is, moreover, 
but little affected by ammonia and alkaline carbonates ; but the 
strong alkalies, potash and caustic soda, affect it more or less, by 
combining. The vermilion of antimony cannot, therefore, be 
mixed with colors which have an alkaline reaction, nor will it 
withstand a high degree of heat, but will blacken under such in- 
fluence. 

Yermilion is an opaque color. When moistened with water, 
or mixed with gum or gelatine, it has no lustre, but when com- 
bined with oil or varnish it becomes exceedingly brilliant and 
intense in color. It covers well and surpasses in this respect all 
mineral colors. It presents, perhaps, the very purest hue of red, a 
hue which never turns orange or crimson, though it generally 
retains a slight tint of brown. Yerniiliou is not favorable to the 
drying of oil, although it does not retard its drying to any great 
degree. — Coach Mahers Magazine. 

INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF TURPENTINE. 

Experience has taught that the so-called lead paralysis, common 
among painters, in the form of a loss of motion of the wrist joints, 
is chiefly produced by the habit of washing the hands in turpen- 
tine. It is probable that it is not the turpentine alone which 
produces this fatal result, but chiefly the particles of lead or zinc 
paint on the hands which, by the turpentine, are brought in a 
condition to penetrate the skin more readily and to be absorbed ; 
therefore, painters should avoid, as much as possible, the use of 
turpentine for washing the hands. 

WHITE LEAD. 

The Scientific American recommends the following as the best 
means of testing the purity of white lead ground in oil : Take a 
small portion and wash it with spirits of turpentine, to remove 
the oil, and rinse thoroughly with alcohol. Pour on the sample 
thus prepared dilute nitric acid. If a residue remains, it is suf- 
ficient indication of sulphate of baryta. The weight of this sub- 
stance when separated from the solution by filtering and drying, 
will, when compared with the weight of the sample, give the pro- 
portion of this very common adulteration, provided sulphate of 
lead be not present. The clear solution which has been filtered 
3 



34 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

off, may next be tested for carbonate of lime (chalk or whiting), 
by evaporating to dryness and treating with alcohol. This will 
dissolve the nitrate of lime into which the carbonate of lime has 
been changed by the first treatment with nitric acid. The loss of 
weight in the residue after treatment with the alcohol, filtering, 
and drying, will indicate the proportion of carbonate of lime 
present in lead, provided there is no oxide of zinc present; and 
the amount of carbonate of lime may be determined by multiply- 
ing this loss by 56 and dividing the product by 82 ; the quotient 
will be the weight of carbonate of lime present in the sample be- 
fore treatment. 

A mixture of lead, carbonate and oxide of zinc, prepared 
cheaply from an ore found in North Carolina, has been latterly 
used to adulterate white lead; therefore, oxide of zinc may be 
present. To test for this salt, add to the alcoholic solution ob- 
tained in the first washing, sulphide of ammonium, which will 
throw down all the zinc as a sul^^hide, five-sixths of which will be 
the amount of oxide of zinc present in the sample, which must be 
deducted in estimating the carbonate of lime. Sulphate of lead 
may be present; if so, it will remain undisturbed with the sulphate 
of baryta, upon the first treatment with nitric acid. It may be 
washed entirely out of the sulphate of baryta with pure water; 
the loss in weight ascertained after drying the sulphate of baryta, 
will then indicate the quantity of sulphate of lead present. In 
this case the whole of the residue at first left when the nitric acid 
is added is not the sulphate of baryta, and the latter must be 
weighed after washing out the lead salt. 

TO BLEACH SHELLAC. 

Dissolve in an iron kettle one part of peariash in eight parts of 
water; add one part of pulverized shellac or seed lac, and heat 
the whole to ebullition. When the lac is dissolved, cool the solu- 
tion and impregnate it with " chlorine " till the lac is precipitated 
This precipitate is white, but its color is deepened by washing 
and consolidation. Dissolve in alcohol. Lac bleached by this 
process yields a varnish as clear as opal. 

HOW COMMON WINDOW GLASS IS MADE. 

If ever you visit Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, you must go into 
the window glass factories there; you will find them very curious. 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 35 

Their furnace, in the first place, is built in the ancient style ; it 
has no chimney, and the smoke from the bituminous coal they 
burn, pours out in a cloud into the room. There are openings 
in the roof for it to escape through, and a continual draught of 
air from the doors carries it upward, so that it is not so bad for 
the workmen as one would think. Besides, the}^ do not begin 
to blow off until the smoke is all burnt off. 

There are five pots on each side of the furnace; and you will 
see five men in a row, blowing all at once, with the regularit}^ of 
a file of soldiers exercising. Each gathers 30 or 40 pounds of 
metal on his pipe, which is very long and strong. They stand 
on platforms, to get room to swing the glass, as they blow it. 
The five men begin to blow and swing all together. Each blows 
a great globe of glass, which is stretched out gradually by the 
swinging motion into a cylinder or roller, as it is called, five 
feet long. Then the five rollers are swung up toward the fur- 
nace holes, and five other soldiers spring forward with their guns, 
— which in this case are iron bars — that they set upright under 
the five blowing pipes to support them while the rollers arc 
being reheated in the necks of the pots. The blowers blow in 
the necks of the pipes with all their might, then clap their 
thumbs over the holes to prevent the air from rushing out 
again ; in the meanwhile the end of the roller is softened, so 
that at last the air, forced in and expanded by the heat, bursts 
it outward. The glass is then a cylinder, open at one end. It 
is whirled in the heat until the edges become true, then brought 
away — the five iron supports dropping to the ground with a 
simultaneous clang. The cylinders are laid on tables, where 
the imperfect spherical end about the blowing pipe is cracked 
off from the rest by a strip of melted glass drawn around it. 
The cylinder is then cracked from end to end on one side by 
means of a red hot iron passed through it. 

In the adjoining building is what is called the flattening oven. 
The cylinders brought there are lifted on the end of a lever, 
passed in through a circular opening just large enough to ad- 
mit them, and laid on flattening stones on the oven bottom, with 
the crack uppermost. The oven bottom is circular, and it re- 
volves horizontally. As the glass softens, it separates at the 
crack, and lays itself down gently and gradually on the stone. 



36 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

The long cylinder is then a flat sheet, three feet wide and nearly 
five feet in length. There are four openings around the sides of 
the oven ; at one the glass is put in, through another a workman 
sweeps the stone for it, a third workman smooths it down with 
a block as it comes round to him, and a fourth, at the last open- 
ing, which is close to the one at which it was put in, lifts the 
sheet — partly cooled by this time — upon a carriage in the oven. 
This he does by means of a lever furnished with sharp, broad 
blades at the end, which he works in under the glass. When 
the carriage is full, it is run through an annealing oven beyond, 

The opposite end of the annealing oven opens into the cutting 
room. There the carriages are pushed along a central track, 
and unloaded at the stalls of the cutters. The cutter has a table 
before him, with measure marks on its edges. He lifts one of 
the sheets, lays it on a table, and commences ruling it faster 
than a school bo}' rules his slate. His ruler is a wooden rod, 
five feet long, and his pencil point is a diamond. Every stroke 
is a cut. ^ot that he cuts the glass quite apart ; indeed he seems 
only to make a scratch. Yet that scratch has the effect of crack- 
ing the glass quite through, so that it breaks clean 03" at the 
slightest pressure. In this way the sheets are cut up into panes 
of the required size. 

I remember, one workman told mc that a single diamond 
would last him two or three years. It has fifteen or sixteen dif- 
ferent edges, and when one edge is worn out he uses another. 
South American diamonds, such as he uses, cost, he told me, 
from six to thirty dollars each; and when they are worn out for 
his purpose, he sells them for jewels to be put into watches. — [J. 
T. Trowbridge. 

CAUSES OF PAINT CRACKING AND FLAKING. 

The cracking and flaking of paint has always been a source of 
trouble to the carriage manufacturer. As a rule, the painter or 
the varnishmaker have had to bear all the blame; there is no 
doubt but they, in too many instances, are responsible, but it is 
not right that they should be made the scapegoats for the faults 
of others, or for causes beyond their control. There are a great 
many theories concerning the cracking and falling off of paint, 
but as a rule, these theories are false to a greater or less extent. 
T.o no one cause can this trouble be rightfully charged, but with 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 37 

this, as with everything else, there is a leading cause that over- 
shadows all others, and which will produce the result, even if 
every other cause were removed, althoiigh possibly not to the 
same extent, and a few words in relation to this greatest and 
most destructive cause will not be out of place. 

All paint that is to be put upon bare wood is, or should be, 
mixed with vegetable oil; this oil is the life of the paint which 
it mixes, and when this is absorbed in any manner from the 
paint it loses all life and becomes worthless. All kinds of wood 
will expand and contract when exposed to the atmosphere, ac- 
cording as the moisture is dryer than the wood; while the paint 
retains the oil this expansion or contraction does it no injury, 
but when the wood has absorbed the oil, which it will do in time, 
the paint loses its elasticity and becomes a thin, hard shell, and 
can no longer accommodate itself to the action of the wood ; 
the expansion of the wood, therefore, causes it to crack, and as 
the wood contracts it is again forced together, until, by continual 
action of this kind, it becomes loosened from the wood and 
flakes oif. Take, for instance, a carriage wheel after the wood 
has absorbed the oil from the lead and the paint has cracked, and 
strike a quick blow upon a spoke, and see how quick the paint 
will flake ofi". A few experiments of this kind will convince any 
one that the lead or pigments forming the paint have no vitality 
after the oil has been absorbed from them. We presume that 
there are very few persons who will dispute the fiact that wood 
will absorb the oil; if there are such let them experiment a little 
and they Avill soon become convinced of their error. They would 
find their experience the same as that of a painter who had spent 
many years in the shop and carefully studied causes and effects. 
He said: "I primed a set of wheels with oil, and when sufficient- 
ly dry, sand^^apered them and gave them a coat of the best B. B. 
English lead, mixed with a large proportion of oil; when dry I 
puttied them up and sandpapered them, and gave them another 
coat of lead, then finished them in the usual manner. I saw the 
carriage some time after, and some portions of the paint had 
flaked off, and in those places the wood had so completely absorb- 
ed the oil that, had I not known that oil priming had been used, 
and that there was a large portion of oil in the lead, I should not 
have had an idea that oil had been used." 



38 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

The best and purest lead will retain the oil the longest, hence 
it will resist the action of the wood in absorbinij it for the srreat- 
est length of time, and in proj^ortion to its adulteration it loses 
its power and tenacity to retain the oil and resist its absorption 
by the wood. Remember this, you who buy pure lead because it 
is cheap, and do not blame the unfortunate painter who is com- 
pelled to use it. — Harness and Carriage Journal. 

BRUSH MAKING. ^ 

There is almost no end to the variety of brushes used in the 
present age; but all the various styles perform some important 
office in the economy of civilized life. Brushes are made of a good 
many kinds of materials; but bristles are the chief reliance of 
the brush maker in their manufacture. The principal source of 
supply of bristles is Russia, from whence vast quantities are 
exported to various countries. England, it is said, alone con- 
sumes annually over two million pounds of bristles, obtained 
from Russia, in addition to vast supplies of her own, and con- 
siderable quantities grown elsewhere. 

Bristles, as they come off the hog's back, are covered with dirt 
and a sort of gummy substance, that make them very unpleasant 
to handle. To rid them of these, and also of oifensive odors, they 
are first thoroughly washed, and after becoming dry are sorted. 
Each color is placed by itself, and these grades are known to the 
operative as black, grey, white, and lilies; the latter are a kind 
almost transparently white, and of exceedingly fine texture. 
The sorting process also consists of distributing the bristles in 
such a way that the collection shall be of equal length. Besides 
the root ends of the bristles must be kept together. The next 
process is to comb them. By this means they are rendered elas- 
tic, and receive a beautiful polish. After being again washed, 
they are ready for the use of the brush maker. 

Brushes are divided into two general classes, known as single 
brushes and compound brushes. The former are distinguished 
by one tuft, or bundle of bristles. But a hair brush belongs to 
the second order, because of its collection of bristle bundles. 

Brushes are also made of the soft hair of animals, such as the 
sable, badger, and squirrel. Of such are the small paint brushes 
used for water colors. Other kinds of brushes are made of roots 
and fibers of certain tropical plants, of horse and goat hair, old 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 89 

rope, cocoanut fiber, broom corn, the fiber of whalebone, and 
even spun glass. 

Small paint brushes are manufactured as follows: The hairs 
are first cleaned in alum water, and subsequently soaked in warm 
water, dried, combed, and assorted. The brush maker takes 
sufficient of the prepared hair to fill a small groove which holds 
them tight; while thus placed, the root ends are wound tightly 
with thread. The soft hairs are then arranged so as to form a 
point, without leaving a blunt or scraggy end when the brush is 
wet. This part of the business is generally performed by women 
or boys, as it requires a very delicate touch to arrange them 
properly. The handles are made from quills, which are soaked 
in hot water to swell them sufficiently. When the brush is 
ready, the hairs are inserted point first, in the large end of the 
quill. Then, by a contrivance peculiar to the trade, the brush is 
drawn through until the tied part is brought down to the small 
end of the quill. This completes the process, and when the quill 
gets cold it contracts to its original dimensions, and thus secures 
the br^ish part very tightly. The quills used for handles are of 
various sizes, and are obtained from geese, turkeys, ducks, and 
even smaller birds, such as quails, larks, &c. The size of the 
handle is always proportioned to the size of the brush, and the 
purposes for which it is made. When the quantity of hair or 
bristles is larger than can be used to advantage with quills, the 
bunch of material is put in the tube with wooden handles. Even 
these, when loo large, are placed in handles made of wood, with 
perated holes. Bundles of bristles designed for this purpose are 
secured with strong cord, which has been dipi)ed in glue. 

Hair brushes are of the most complicated manufacture. Holes 
large enough to admit the bunches of bristles are bored all over 
the back of the brush part way through; while much smaller 
holes are bored clear through. A tuft of bristles is doubled over 
a piece of fine wire. After being thus properly secured, the 
workmen put the wire in the small hole, and draw the bristles up 
as far as possible in the big hole. The wire is then carried on to 
the next hole, until the whole surface is covered over with con- 
necting lines of ^\ire and tufts of bristles. When thus far com- 
pleted, the bristles are cut off evenly, and a fancy back is glued 
on to hide the wire, and give the brush a more finished appear- 



40 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

ftnce. Tooth and nail brushes are made in a similar way, hut the 
holes where the wire is secured are made on the side, and corked 
up with small plugs of ivory or bone. Some brushes have handles 
©f perfumed wood, and are ornamented considerably, at heavy 
expense. Brushes made of spun glass are used in acids, which 
will destroy ordinary brushes. — [New York 3Iercantile Journal. 

GUM-COPAL AND COPAL VARNISH. 

The copal Zanzibar is the only article convertible into the fine 
varnishes now so extensively used throughout the civilized world. 
It is the product of a tree which still grows there, and the gum 
is found in two conditions — in a soft state, attached to the tree; 
and buried in the soil, where it has become hard as it is commonly 
seen in trade. 

The tree is found on the island and mainland of Zanzibar. It 
is by no means as some have supposed, a shrubby thorn, its 
towering bole has formed canoes sixty feet long, and a single tree 
has suflSced for the kelson of a bridge. The average size, how- 
ever, is about half that height, with from three to six feet girth 
near the ground. The bark is smooth; the lower branches are 
within reach of a man's head. The trunk is of a yellow whitish 
tinge, rendering it conspicuous among the dark African jungle 
growths; it is dotted with exudations of raw gum, which is also 
found scattered in bits around the base; and is infested by ants, 
especially by a long ginger colored and semi-transparent variety, 
called by the people "boiling water," from its fiery bite. The 
copal wood is yellow tinted, and the saw collects from it large 
flakes; when dried and polished, it darkens to a honeyed brown, 
and being well veined, it is used for the panels of doors. The 
modern liahitat of the tree is the alluvial sea plain, and the 
anciently raised beach; though extending over the crest of the 
latter formation, it ceases to be found at any distance beyond the 
land water counter slope, and it is unknown in the interior. 

The raw copal is either picked from the tree, or is found shal- 
lowly imbedded in the loose soil. To the eye, it is smoky or 
clouded inside; it feels soft; it becomes like putty when exposed 
to the action of alcohol, and it viscidizes in the solution used for 
washing the true copal. Little valued in European technology, 
it is exported to Bombay, where it is converted into an inferior 
varnish for carriages and palanquins, and to China, where the 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 41 

people have discovered, it is said, for utilizing it, a process which, 
like the manufacture of rice paper and Indian ink, they keep 
secret. Its juice varies from 12 to 27 cents a pound. 

The true or ripe copal is the product of vast extinct forests, over- 
thrown in former ages; and the gum has been set free by some 
violent action of the elements; or, it had exuded from the roots of 
the trees by an abnormal action which exhausted and destroyed 
them. The gum, buried at depths beyond atmospheric influence, 
has, like amber and similar gum resins, been bituminized in al' 
its purity, the volatile principles being fixed by moisture and by 
the exclusion of external air. That it is the produce of a tree is 
proved by the discovery of j^ieces of gum imbedded in a touch- 
wood which crumbles under the fingers; the "goose skin," which 
is the impress of sand or gravel, shows that it w^as buried in a soft 
state, and the bees, flies, gnats, and other insects which are some- 
times found in it, delicately preserved, seem to disprove a remote 
geologic antiquity. At the end of the rains, it is usually carried 
ungarbled (unassorted and uncleaned) to Zanzibar. At Zanzibar, 
after being sifted and freed from heterogenous matter, it is sent 
to the Indian market or sold to the foreign merchant. It is then 
washed several times in soda ley. The Americans export the 
gum uncleaned, because the operation is better performed at 
Salem. Of late years they have begun to prepare it at Zanzibar? 
like the Hamburg traders. When taken from the ley, in which 
from 20 to 37 per ct. is lost, the gum is washed, sun-dried for some 
hours, and cleaned with a hard brush, which must not, however, 
injure the goose skin; the dark "eyes" where the dirt has sunk 
deep, are also picked out with an iron tool. It is then carefully 
sorted, with due regard to color and size. There are many tints 
and peculiarities, known only to these whose interest compel 
them to study and observe copal, which like cotton and Cashmere 
shawls, requires years of experience. The sizes are fine, medium 
and large, with many subdivisions; the pieces vary from the di- 
mensions of small pebbles to two or three ounces; they have been 
known to weigh five pounds, and it is said at Salem a piece of 
thirty-five pounds is shown. 

Copal is preferred to other gum resins for making varnish, on 
account of its hardness. It does not dissolve in water or common 
alcohol, even when boiling hot; and oil of turpentine dissolves 



42 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

only one or two per cent, of it. When heated over a quick fire, 
it melts into a thin fluid, and in this state it can be mixed inti- 
mately with linseed oil and spirits of turpentine. Such a mix- 
ture, with the addition of a little litharge or dried sugar of lead, 
constitutes copal varnish. Great care and skill are required in 
manufacture, to avoid accidents from fire, and to produce varnish 
of a good quality. 

A NEW ZINC PAINT. 

According to the Comtes Rendits, M. Artus, of the Vieille Mon- 
tagne Company, France, has introduced a valuable white zinc 
j^aint, using silicate of potash instead of oil as a vehicle. It is 
said to be very durable, and to keep zinc metal roofing very 
cool; thus furnishing a paint for zinc surfaces, the want of 
which has been long felt. The details of the preparation are not 
given, but if the paint prove as valuable as seems to be antici- 
pated, it will doubtless be introduced ere long into this country. 

The Titusville Herald mentions the following concerning a 
patent process recently exhibited in Titusville by Mr. B. O'Brien, 
of Lockport, N. Y., for manufacturing a paint oil from petroleum, 
which was claimed to fully equal the linseed oil for mixing 
paints. Mr. O'Brien demonstrated the process to a number of 
refiners in Titusville, but his negotiations for the sale of the 
l)atent here was suspended by a call to New York, and a sale was 
effected to parties in that city. The purchasers pay $75,000 for 
three fourths of the patent, and furnish the requisite capital to 
manufacture at least one hundred barrels of the oil per day^ 
Mr. O'Brien receives $25,000 cash in hand, and $2 per barrel 
on all oil sold until the balance, $50,000, is paid. He also re- 
tains a one fourth interest in the business, receiving one fourth 
of the net profits. 

Mr. James B. Pollock, of Port Eichmond, N. 1"., has invented 
and patented an apparatus for feeding white lead, etc., from the 
mixing tub to the millstones. This invention consists of a feeder 
or conveyor for oily and pasty substances, of which the essential 
features are a longitudinally grooved cylinder, inclosed in a 
cylindrical case, and a scraper, arranged in such manner that the 
paste is forced from the mixer or a hopper into the groove of the 
cylinder at one side of the case, and carried thereby to the other 
side, where it is taken out by the scraper, which is caused to 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 43 

drop into the groove, and discharged upon any receiver, prefera- 
bly a revolving disk, from which it may be discharged by a 
fixed scraper to any other receiver or conveyor. The case 
serves as a cut off to remove any excess of the paste, and cause 
the feed to be regular and even, being the exact quantity the 
grooves are capable of taking; but the quantity discharged may 
be varied by varying the speed of the cylinder, or by limiting the 
discharging scraper into the grooves, so that it will not take out 
the whole quantity contained in them. 

PAINT AS A PROTECTOR. 

Paint, in the view of utility, is emploj'cd as a protective 
covering to a body, against the injurious influences of the air, 
water, and other destructive agencies. Wood and the common 
metals are especially attacked by oxygen contained in our atmos- 
phere, of which it constitutes about 21 per cent., being the 
21-100 part of the whole atmosphere. It is also a component 
part of water, forming nearly 88-100 of its whole weight. 
Although its presence is absolutely necessary to the continu- 
ance of animal life, yet metals exposed to the air are consumed 
by the oxygen as in a fire. The utility, therefore, of paint as a 
protector is so apparent that any study of its composition and 
properties, which will tend to improve it in any degree, is of 
great importance. 

Paint is understood to be a mixture of a liquid and a solid, 
in powder. The desirable physical conditions of these are, 
that the liquid should have a certain amount of viscidity, in 
order to maintain the powder in suspension, and that the pow- 
der should be as fine as possible, and nearly of the same 
specific gravity of the liquid. Linseed oil is undoubtedly the 
best mixture for paints that are to be exposed to the weather. 
It absorbs oxygen, and becomes solid and water-proof, and yet 
it always possesses some elasticity which prevents it from 
cracking. Theory and the almost united voice of practical 
painters, after centuries of ex2)erience, have decided that, in 
view of its inherent properties and its cost, nothing at present 
known can take its place. There inay be special uses of paint, 
where some other article may be substituted with advantage, 
yet we cannot reasonably look beyond the class of substances 
known as drying oils, for a substitute. Yolatilc oils, and such 



44: GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

as resin oils, which oxydize into brittle resins, are altogether 
out of the question. Nor will any solution or mixture of India- 
rubber or gutta percha take the place of linseed oil, by reason 
of expense as well as their inferior properties. Linseed oil, 
therefore, is the very best liquid for paint. Of the solids used 
for paint, we may mention lampblack, white lead, red lead, ver- 
milion, verdigris, o'chres, &c., a certain combination of the dif- 
ferent substances in projier proportions give the various colors of 
brown, purple, chocolate, &c. Now the chemical properties of 
ingredients used in paint are of great importance. The liquid 
and solid must be such as will not injuriously react on each 
other, and such as are not destroyed by contact with air and 
water. The main virtue of paint resides in the liquid ; the solid 
serves unfavorably to dilute that virtue, and favorably by secur- 
ing that kind of consistency which permits easy manipulation 
with the brush, and favorably, also, by preventing the absorption 
of the liquid when the paint is spread on porous surfaces. 

As a theoretical question, the choice of the solid body in paint 
is a difficult one; it involves some of the nicest refinements of 
chemistry ; but as a practical question, the inherent differences of 
the multitude of admissible substances are slight enough to bring 
it to the narrow consideration of cost. That substance which is 
permanent under ordinary influences, and which can be pow- 
dered and ground with oil, at the lowest cost, will be preferred. 
Do not the ochres answer to this condition? "VVe suggest here, 
that metallic oxydes and carbonates generally have a certain 
affinity for oil, which renders the mixture more easy and inti- 
mate, so that the resulting dried paint is more compact and less 
disturbed by friction. The peculiar property of white lead, in 
mixing with oil, and such j^aint drying up to become a remarka- 
bly hard and tough body, is well understood, and indicates it — 
notwithstanding its greater cost over ochres and other cheap 
substances — as the best material for inside work which is to be 
exposed to much friction. Lead paint, however, is not suitable 
for surfaces much exposed to the weather. The ochres are re- 
commended for cutside work. 

PRUSSIAN BLUE. 

The substance which generally affords the blue color, affords a 
great vaiietj^ of shades. In regard to durability, the blues pos- 



GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 45 

sess one marked characteristic, namely : those which are the 
purest and most brilliant are the most durable. The blue colors 
which are used most extensively in painting, are ultramarine, 
cobalt, Prussian blue, indigo, the different species of azure, etc. 
la the present article, we shall speak only of the third in this 
class. 

Prussian blue was discovered in 1720, by Diesbach, in Berlin, 
and since that time it has been carefully studied by many chem- 
ists and manufacturers, so that its composition and preparation 
are well understood. It is the chemical combination of the 
gaseous substance known as cyanogen, with iron under two dif- 
ferent kinds of oxidation, that is to say, protocyanide and sesqui- 
cyanide of iron and a little water. The proportions are variable, 
and from this cause the color varies, and colors of very different 
degrees of intensity are found in commerce. 

In the ordinary variety, 3 parts of protocyanide and 2 parts 
of sesquicyanide of iron are combined with 9 parts of water. 

Moreover, the method of making, the quality of the materials 
employed, and the oare used, all exert an important influence on 
the color. When pure and newly precipitated, its color is so 
deep as to appear black, and later it looks black-blue with a slight 
reddish tint. 

In order to obtain it pure, a preparation consisting of carbon- 
ate of potash, calcined with animal matter (usually blood), is 
added to the blue during the manufacture. We give a brief de- 
scription of the process of making Prussian blue, as denoted by 
Boret. The blood is first prepared by heating in a basin and 
evaporating until it becomes viscid, when it is spread upon ta- 
bles and exposed to the sun until dry, and it is then pulverized. 
Ten parts of this are taken, and a solution composed of 1 part of 
carbonate of potash, 1-100 part of iron filings and a little water. 
These ingredients are inclosed in a melting-pot which is kept at 
a red heat for seven or eight hours. During the first part of this 
process, a large quantity of offensive steam separates, which is 
succeeded by a light red flame. The matter is then stirred, and 
when it has reached a state of tranquil fusion and emits no more 
gases, the pot is again covered and heated for another hour. The 
product obtained is in the form of a cake, which is next washed 
with hot water until all the soluble portion has been absorbed. 



46 GENERAL HINTS ON HOUSE PAINTING. 

This liquid, which is bright yellow and smells very strongly of 
prussic acid, is not pure cyanuret of potassium, but must be fil- 
tered and concentrated. After this is done, it is poured, little by 
little, into a warm solution of one part of alum and seven or eight 
parts of sulphate of iron, and it gives the color which is known 
as Prussian blue. When pure it is sometimes known as China 
or Chinese blue. 

* According to the authority of Mr. Burgeois, who was superin- 
tendent of a great color factory in France, Prussian blue, next to 
ultra-marine coblat, affords the purest shade of blue, and though 
inferior in this respect to these two colors, it surpasses both of 
them in its wonderful coloring power. Unfortunately, it cannot 
withstand the action of alkalies, and when combined with a color 
which contains an alkali, it is liable to change in a very short 
time, or even to lose its color entirely. It is deep-toned, brilliant, 
and transparent, possessing the greatest intensity of any of the 
blues, and in composition it gives the greatest varietj^ of shades. 
When mixed with white lead, Prussian blue acquires a somewhat 
greenish shade. Yery beautiful colors may be produced by mix- 
ing it with 15 or 20 parts (in weight) of chronium yellow, but 
greens so made are not durable. To obtain a sky-blue, add 1 part 
of Prussian blue to 20 parts of white, and for a light azure, add 1 
part of same to 200 parts of white. When mixed with oil, Prus- 
sian blue should be used soon, else it will become greasy and dif- 
ficult to work. The cheaper kinds are sometimes adulterated 
with chalk, china, clay, or starch. When mixed with chalk or 
other carbonates of lime, their presence may be easily tested by 
treating tho color with an acid, which will cause the adulteration 
to effervesce. If starch is added, it will become pasty when 
mixed with boiling water.. 



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